Wednesday, February 25, 2009

i think we all know the real reason why no one wants any streets renamed"cesar chavez blvd". they can claim all they want that money is the issue. mmmmm....that may be part of it. but i guarantee you that even if it didn't cost a thing, people would still be outraged.

there was a segment on the news last night about store owners on broadway street upset about the proposal, arguing that they'd have to rename their stores. yeah right! since when does the name of a business always reflect the street it's on? never! how many "laurelhurst dental" or "rose city this or that" businesses exist outside the heart of that neighborhood?

white people just don't want to admit that they don't want to give "some mexican" any props. they want to keep the negative stigma about mexicans, the same way they like to do with black people. to change a street name to reflect cesar chavez to them would be just....wrong. (eyeroll)

this is a bit off-topic as i like to post about issues surrounding portlandoregon, something got under my skin bigtime tonight. so i must post about it.

as i flipped through the channels i stumbled upon CNN'S "Black in America" hosted by SoledadO'brien.first of all, the title suggests it encompases black people as a whole-as if all black people are experiencing what they're reporting on. and if you don't agree, think about if it were called "White in America". one would assume that this is a show reporting on what it's like to be white in america. and if they constantly aired trailer park trash, pot smoking, uneducated white people, it wouldn't sit well with viewers because it's inherently understood that the entire white race doesn't live that way. even the most ignorant uneducated black person living in the projects watching that would know that. but flip it for a minute. what happens when some white hick redneck living in the sticks of texas watches the show "black in america"? i bet they believe that almost all (if not all) black people act the way they see portrayed on the show.

haven't we overcome? i personally felt like once obama had been elected, we had. sure, there will always be the low class, trashy, gang-banging, etc. black folk, but there are many, many successful, educated, articulate and hardworking black people in america. yet this show, in all the 3 times i stumbled upon it consistently reports on the downtrodden, gang-banging, poverty stricken, high-school dropout, single welfare mama-type black people.

why not report on the upper class black people in america? isn't that being "black in america"? in my cynical mind it appears to be some type of conspiracy to focus on the negative, to keep the bigots and racists believing that all black people live in the slums, uneducated, and so on. maybe it's just more interesting to report on black people like that. maybe a show on the upper-class wealthy black doctors, lawyers, and professionals living life like everyone else doesn't "sell". maybe cnn knows that people like to see negative reporting on black americans. maybe they want to keep the stereotyping alive and well.

you might argue there there are a lot of black people living poorly, lazy and ghetto. perhaps it's true. but how come the show, being called "black in america" only focuses on the negative? if that is what sells and they must do it, why not rename the show something to the effect of "poor black america" so that we know which blacks they're reporting on. Black in america. if we're black, we must be like the struggling people on the show. why must we all be lumped in that title? i know way too many black people who aren't even close to the type of people they report on.Soledad is such a tool.

Friday, February 13, 2009

but, i think black people are a cursed people. i told my mother this and she simply rolled her eyes and started preaching to me about how of course we're not cursed. i don't say 'cursed' in a way to mean that we are some substandard nonhumans. we are of course just like everyone else. i even took a black history class in college which addressed this subject due to the myth that some racist people feel black people are cursed. the class of course 'dispelled the myth'. we talked about where the myth came from.... the cain and abel story, how god told cain he would be a wanderer and cursed, etc., etc. we talked about the fact that that did not apply to the black race.

but what if it does? seriously. the way black people have always been oppressed, mistreated, judged and on and on. we've always had such a hard time. so different from other races. our hair is nappy---yes, we've learned to love it, we've risen above the oppression but throughout history, we've been so hated. why are we the only ones in the world with nappy hair? again black people have learned to deal with it, but it wouldn't be my first choice if it were somehow possible to scientifically change my hair type.

i don't mean in any way to say that black people-that we are bad people. but the fact that we've always had so much to overcome and still have a ways to go makes me think that we've been cursed.

and no, despite my blog, i don't hate myself or my race. i'm just looking at the black experience objectively.

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Who is

The brutally honest thoughts and musings of a thirty-something, middle class black girl's experiences as a mother to two girls and one boy, interacially married to an awesome white guy in [a very white] Portland, Oregon.
Topics that I blog about are likely thought or ideas that are not so easy to talk about openly, things I'd only tell a close friend.
Raised in Portland, the youngest of 5 siblings-with FOUR older brothers-I want to write about race relations and perception from my perspective.
AND I DON'T HAVE TO BE OBJECTIVE.
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[this blog and writer is not associated with any other "thatblackgirl" (or similar) domains, blogs or screen names]